Posted: Jun 23, 2020
Garrett Garza claims second Indoor Track & Field All-America honor, fourth overall All-America award
SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran graduate Garrett Garza has been named an United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Indoor Track & Field All-American for the second time in his career.
Garza (Round Rock/Stony Point) is an All-American for the fourth time in his storied career. He has two indoor track & field All-America honors, and he has All-America awards in outdoor track & field and in football.
Garza previously was named the USTFCCCA's South/Southeast Region Indoor Field Athlete of the Year.
Normal policies dictate that All-America honors are awarded to student-athletes who score any portion of a team point (top-eight in the final of an individual event or as a member of a top-eight placing relay event) at the NCAA Championships.
In lieu of conduction of the national championships this season, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA Division III Executive Committee adopted the following criteria:
Based on the selected participants for the national championships initially announced by the NCAA on Sunday, March 8, the following will be recognized as All-America for the 2020 Indoor Track & Field season:
- Individual events: ALL student-athletes declared and initially accepted into their event.
- Relay events: Members of ALL relays who produced the performance that was declared and initially accepted into their event.
A total of 675 athletes from 161 different institutions were honored.
Garza was ranked third nationally in the NCAA Division III indoor shot put with a toss of 17.67 meters (57 feet, 11¾ inches). He had the top shot mark in the South/Southeast Region by 8 feet, 4 inches.
Garza owned five of the top-11 marks turned in this season at the NCAA Division III level.
Garza was one of the 20 shot putters to qualify for the 2020 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C. The championship meet was canceled (due to COVID-19) a day before competition was to begin on Friday, March 13. Garza was to contend for the national championship in the shot put on Saturday, March 14. Garza and his coaches were already in Winston-Salem when the decision was made.
An All-American in the shot put in the 2019 indoor championships and an All-American and national runner-up in the shot put in the 2019 outdoor championships, Garza had a good shot at becoming TLU's third indoor national champion (joining the 2007 women's indoor 4x400 meter relay team and Marquis Brown, who won the 2017 indoor 400).
Garza's outstanding 2019 indoor season already included titles at the Texas A&M University Invite and Grand Valley State (Mich.) Big Meet Saturday, and he was the top collegiate thrower (second only to an unattached thrower) at the University of Houston G5 and Super 22 Invitational.
Also an All-American for TLU Football, Garza's appearance at the NCAA DIII Indoor Championship was to be his final collegiate contest of any kind. He already used his four years of eligibility in football and four years in outdoor track & field. He was in his final year of eligibility in indoor track & field.